Michalis Giannatos ( el, Μιχάλης Γιαννάτος; 11 July 1941 – 17 September 2013), alternatively spelled as Michael Yannatos, was a Greek actοr. Ηe was born in ( Constantinople), Turkey. He left the city for Greece in 1964 during the long expulsion of Istanbul Greeks.

Career

He studied in Konstantinos Demopoulos' school of drama and first appeared as a professional actor in Georgios Zervoulakos' film ''Oi stigmatismenoi'' (Greek: Οι στιγματισμένοι) in 1966. When still a student, he participated in the theatrical play ''Capetan Michalis'' (Greek: Καπετάν Μιχάλης) next to

Manos Katrakis Emmanuel "Manos" Katrakis ( el, Εμμανουήλ (Μάνος) Κατράκης; 14 August 1908 – 3 September 1984) was a Greek actor of theater and film. During his long cinematic career, he appeared in close to 100 films, television series and plays. He was a regular in Theodoros Angelopoulos films since he was one of the director's favorite actors. After ''Megalexandros'' (Greek: Μεγαλέξανδρος) in 1981, Angelopoulos was always calling him to play in his movies. He was fluent in five languages; Greek, Turkish, French, Italian and Spanish. Due to that, he appeared in many international productions, including '' Midnight Express'', ''

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'', '' Munich'' and more. He worked next to great actors such as Anthony Quinn,

John Hurt Sir John Vincent Hurt (22 January 1940 – 25 January 2017) was an English actor whose career spanned over five decades. Hurt was regarded as one of Britain's finest actors. Director David Lynch described him as "simply the greatest actor in ...

, Nicolas Cage, Penélope Cruz,

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, Eric Bana and Daniel Craig. He also played in the film ''

A Touch of Spice ''A Touch of Spice'' (Greek: ''Πολίτικη Κουζίνα/Politiki Kouzina)'' is a 2003 Greek film directed by Tassos Boulmetis and starring Georges Corraface as the character of the adult Fanis Iakovides. The character of Fanis Iakovides ...

'' reek title: Politiki kouzina (Greek: Πολίτικη Κουζίνα)by Tassos Boulmetis and in the European co-production ''Le Dernier Seigneur des Balkans''.

Personal life

Giannatos was married to Chaido whom he was with until the day he died. They have three children together; Gerasimos (born in 1979), Ioannis (born in 1980) and Maria (born in 1982). Since 1979, when his first son was born, Giannatos was working night shifts as a receptionist at the Hotel Caravel. He needed the job so he could take care of his family, while at the same time he was working as an actor every time he had the chance. His son Gerasimos said: "His main job was receptionist. With that job we made it through. He was working from 1979 when I was born till 1996 as a receptionist". In an interview to Giannis Kasapis in 2012, Giannatos said that he loved

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

: "Classical music is the crown of music. Let me tell you how I first loved it. At my school in Constantinople I had an Italian classmate who asked me if I had ever heard classical music. I said no and she invited me to her house. She played one of Chopin's ''

Polonaises The polonaise (, ; pl, polonez ) is a dance of Polish origin, one of the five Polish national dances in time. Its name is French for "Polish" adjective feminine/"Polish woman"/"girl". The original Polish name of the dance is Chodzony, meani ...

''...I froze! I heard them all! Since then I became a devotee". Giannatos also stated that he was hearing Greek songs as well, Stelios Kazantzidis and rebetiko, and sometimes even flamenco, tango or csárdás. In the same interview he said that he loved the three ancient Greek tragedians — Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides — and of course Aristophanes. Also Hemingway and

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...

Death

Giannatos died on 17 September 2013 at the age of 72 due to a heart attack, while watching a football match with friends. As his son said, no one of his friends realized that he was gone, till the moment someone called him and he didn't respond. The Greek

Minister Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

of Culture and Sports expressed his condolence to Giannatos family while stating: "Michalis Giannatos was an exquisite actor who played in many important Greek, but also foreign, movies. But he was also one of those artists and, deep down, one of those people who are proving every day that it's not necessary to have the main part of a movie to be a protagonist".

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

*
Actor entry at ishow.gr
(mostly in Greek but also some in English) {{DEFAULTSORT:Giannatos, Michael 1941 births 2013 deaths Constantinopolitan Greeks Greek male actors Male actors from Istanbul